Conventional system management software provides multiple functionalities to users, which are typically information technology (IT) professionals managing groups of computing devices. Such conventional system management software is designed to facilitate IT professionals in the design, management, and maintenance of complex networks of computing devices. Typical functions include asset monitoring and management. For example, an agent is typically loaded onto each of the computing devices to collect information about the computing devices. This information typically includes hardware devices that are part of the computing device and software objects saved to the computing device, among others. Such hardware devices and software objects are typically defined by identifiers, or signatures, as would be understood by one skilled in the art. The agent collects information periodically, such as daily or weekly, and returns the information to the system management software. This collected information can be used to determine if the computing devices are being utilized properly, such as in compliance with corporate policies. The collected information can also be utilized to determine if each of the computing devices has sufficient hardware and software to support hardware or software upgrades. Other determinations can also be made with the collected information, as would be understood by one skilled in the art.
To correlate the collected information, which is in the form of identifiers, or signatures, such system management software must have access to a computerized catalog that correlates identifiers with particular hardware and software. In other words, as the agents collect identifier information, that identifier information must be translated into meaningful human-readable or machine-readable data. Because of the countless number of different hardware devices and software objects produced and published by thousands of different entities, the agents often find identifiers that are unknown, having no match in the catalog of the system management software. These unknown identifiers can lead to a significant reduction in the usefulness of the reports generated by the system management software. If IT professionals have access to the identifiers, but cannot readily ascertain what the identifiers mean, then their function as the arbiter of what content is included on computing device under their control is severely diminished.
Moreover, searches of a regional or global network, such as the Internet, can yield potential answers regarding the identification of many of these identifiers. But without a mechanism for verification of these potential identifier identities, their usefulness in such a catalog is diminished.